The MSM Gang-up On Israel: Now it’s David Remnick and Joe Klein

Pike then explained that he did not fully comprehend how differently he saw things from J Street. From the Jewish Exponent: “For instance, Pike said, he was ‘troubled’ by J Street’s recent stance supporting Obama in his latest diplomatic flare-up with the Jewish state over plans to build new housing in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood.” As the reporter for Philadelphia’s Jewish newsweekly explained, “the reversal [of Pike’s acceptance of J-Street’s support] raises questions about the influence of J Street and its ability to raise cash and support candidates who favor its more proactive approach to the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict.” So much for those “younger, more liberal constituencies” that Remnick is so sure represent America’s Jewry. As the Exponent story puts it, it casts doubt on whether J Street “should be considered a mainstream Jewish organization, under the pro-Israel tent.”

Whatever Remnick’s limitations as an observer, he appears absolutely moderate when compared to the vicious attack on critics of Obama’s Middle East policy emanating from Joe Klein in one of his most recent blogs appearing on the Time website. Klein, as we have seen before, tends to lose it in his blogs.

This time, Klein takes on a column penned by Elliot Abrams, now resident at the Council on Foreign Relations, that appears in the Weekly Standard. Fair enough. Klein is entitled to his own views on Abrams’ analysis. But then, instead of offering a serious critique, he brands Abrams’ views as “the foreign policy equivalent of Tea Partyism.” For those of you who support the tea party movement, this is not meant as a compliment.

What could upset Klein so much about Abrams’ views? Well, he leaves out what Klein thinks are major criticisms of Israel — such as restoring Jewish historic sites in Palestinian areas, humiliations suffered daily by West Bank Palestinians who are law-abiding, and as you expect, “the new housing blocks in East Jerusalem,” even though Klein acknowledges that “the new housing is in a neighborhood that will undoubtedly be Jewish once the maps are redrawn.”

Then Klein gets to the nitty-gritty. The real issue is what he calls “the Israeli colonization of Palestinian lands.” It almost appears similar to what the Arab League was arguing back in 1948 at the time of Israel’s creation — that the Jewish state was itself such an act of imperialist colonization. As for Klein’s other fabrications and ignorance about Hebron and the historic Jewish presence there, I refer you to Noah Pollak’s brilliant critique appearing today in Contentions.

Klein goes on to argue that while the Palestinians have fulfilled all the conditions necessary to achieve peace, the Israelis alone have not, since they continue to colonize. And those who have a different analysis — he specifically cites Abrams and Jennifer Rubin — they are condemned as perpetrators of the “Big Lie” and in Rubin’s case, of being “a pro-Likud fanatic.” Now Rubin — as any readers of her wonderful posts knows — can well take care of herself. But what Klein has done is to respond not to her argument that Obama is presiding over “the most anti-Israeli administration in history,” which many of us feel has been established as fact, but to deal with this claim by engaging in an outpouring of ad hominem remarks one does not expect to find on the site of a distinguished magazine.

Indeed, he then writes that Abrams, Rubin and AIPAC — the notorious “Jewish lobby” — are guilty of undermining American policy in such a manner that their views “teeter on the brink of treachery.” (my emphasis) They are, to put it another way, potential traitors to our country! This is as good an example of liberal McCarthyism as one can find. Klein, I think, is the first to make such an accusation since the right-wing crazy Taki argued a few years ago in the pages of the American Conservative that American Jews are a “fifth column,” and elsewhere that the Jewish neo-cons (he actually lists thirteen of them by name) are “as shameless and contemptible as most traitors are.”

And why should they and Israel “stand down”? The answer Klein gives is that “the U.S. is trying to build a regional, and international, coalition to contain and deter Iran — to prevent it from building nuclear weapons, if possible — that will work to Israel’s benefit, if it is successful.” Is Joe Klein serious? Has he not read the newspapers the past few days, in which the administration has made it clear it is backing off tough sanctions?

If anyone is trying to get the U.S. to in fact do precisely what Klein says it is already doing, it is those very people he is criticizing in his article, including Rubin, Abrams, the neo-cons Klein detests, and a dwindling group of liberal hawks who see clearly the Obama administration’s continuing backsliding.

Klein closes with the same old charge. AIPAC, the neo-cons, all of those whom Klein sees as wrong-headed are “extremists” who “stand well outside mainstream thinking on this issue.” If this is true, it is mainstream thinking that is wrong. But as Doug Pike has learned down in Philadelphia, is it the Joe Kleins and the J Street crowd that are the ones suffering from delusions. Klein, like J Street, ends by trying to paint himself as the real friend of Israel, while those who criticize our current administration’s policy are, he writes, encouraging “ right-wing American extremists who deny the legitimacy of our President.”

With a comment like that, Joe Klein reveals himself to be part of a conspiracy mongering group of liberal journalists who evidently see any criticism — no matter how ably it is developed and put forth — as extremist in content. In Klein’s world, this can only end by stopping our criticism. What happened to both free speech and the right to oppose a foreign policy when we think it is wrong?

With friends like Joe Klein and David Remnick, we have learned that Israel does not have to search far for its real enemies.

Addendum: 10:30 pm East Coast time

Since writing the above, Andrew Sullivan joins Remnick and Klein with his editorial column in the London Times. He begins by praising Obama for refusing “to listen to the latest excuses,arguments and prevarications” from Netanyahu. The Israeli PM, he claims, “is badly hurting America’s interests around the world.” As he sees it, the division between Israel and the United States is no longer “taboo;” indeed, it is necessary.

Or as Sullivan puts it, “Israel’s role as an ally has become muddled.” It stands in the way of the US making overtures to “moderate Arab regimes.” What regimes? Iran? Syria? Or does he mean the Saudis, who behind the scenes share with Israel a great antipathy towards Iran’s getting closer to gaining the bomb? Next, Sullivan repeats the false story about General David Petraeus supposedly attacking the US alliance with Israel. Jake Tapper of ABC News reported today on his ABC blog that the comments “attributed to him ‘were simply inaccurate.’” The statements that Sullivan also quotes, Petraeus says, “are flat wrong.”

Tapper’s blog continues:

Petraeus explained that he had submitted a document in which he described the “various factors that influence the strategic context in which” American troops operate in CENTCOM. And the Middle East peace process, he said, is one such factor that influences the environment—but is one of many, also including “a whole bunch of extremist organizations” as well as “a country that has a nuclear program”—meaning Iran. “We have all the factors in there,” he said, and the Middle East peace process “is just one.”

Petraeus added that “people inferred things” that were not said, and “bloggers picked it up and spun it.” And now, Sullivan joins those who further ignore facts and continue to spread a false story on behalf of his anti-Israeli animus. So, to quote Sullivan by adding the word “not” that he does not have in his own sentence, “This is all indisputably not true, which is why it is in America’s interest to resolve the matter.”

What clearly bugs Sullivan is that, as he puts it, “in America, Israel is still popular as the second real democracy in the Middle East.” Yet as he sees it, the support for Israel is coming only from Republicans and evangelical Christians who want Jews to convert, while more and more Democrats are jumping ship. Using Sarah Palin’s ignorance as an easy vehicle to brand all those who support Israel as doing so for bad reasons, he even attacks the entwined Israeli and American flag lapel she wears — seemingly not realizing that many Democrats and independents who support Israel wear the same lapel — which one can find for sale anywhere in Israel.

Finally, Sullivan — whom we already know cares not a fig leaf for Israel — cannot refrain from endorsing J Street as the true voice of reason, thereby following the others who conveniently use them as a fig leaf for advocacy of a new policy that would break the ties between the US and Israel. And of course, he attacks “the rigidly pro-Israel” journals of opinion- The Weekly Standard and The New Republic, the latter being the publication that made him a household name when he was its editor, and which he now argues is “balanced by many bloggers,” of which he obviously counts himself.

Obama, he concludes, “has a gift for getting his enemies to destroy themselves.” But this time, Andrew, the stakes are high — and Iran’s push towards a nuclear weapon is closer than ever, while if anything is likely to be destroyed, it is Obama’s disastrous and delusional foreign policy. Thankfully, there are still opinion leaders who do not listen to bloggers like the bitter Sullivan, including those at The Washington Post whom he so disdains.

52 Comments, 52 Threads

1.
David Thomson

“As he writes, Likud and its supporters ‘overlook younger, more liberal constituencies, which for years have been more questioning of Israel policy.’”

I sadly suspect that this is quite accurate. They typical Ivy League graduate is a historical illiterate. They are also inclined to be Uncle Toms. Israel supposedly represents racial, ethnic, and religious exclusion. The new man and woman are advised to embrace secular utopian doctrines. One should abandon the very notion of nationhood. The very concept of an Israel or the United States is reactionary. Lastly, the younger crowd most assuredly has been taught that the darker skinned Palestinians are victims of the mostly white Israelis. These were the ones who were easily guilt tripped into voting for Barack Obama. They felt strongly compelled to prove they were not racists.

American Jews have far too often gotten overly excited about the less than admirable Pat Buchanan or Joe Sobran. The enemy is always to the right has been their motto. They simply refused to pay adequate attention to the inherent dangerousness of the leftists—particularly if they were also Jewish. The latter were essentially given a free pass. This attitude made next to no sense whatsoever. A left-wing doctrinaire Jew is almost always a self-hating Jew. Such an individual should never be trusted.

A loit of us told Obama supporters during the election that he was an anti-Israel communist. There are plenty of Jews who place their communist beliefs before Israel–Communism long ago replaced religion and ethnic concerns. But there are plenty of Jews who voted for Him in 2008, who will not support Israel bashing and pressure to give up Jerusalem,a place that we have prayed to return to for 2,000 years. They will come to their senses in 2010 and 2012. Rahm, Axelrod, and Klein don’t think these people exist; do they have a surprise coming! And if Bibi stands for election now he will be the 1st Israeli prime minister who doesn’t have to make a coalition. He will get at least 61 seats. He will be able to thank Obama.

Reminds me of the German Jews who couldn’t believe that Hitler
meant them. After all they fought for Germany in WW I. They thought
that he meant “those other Jews”, you know. Remnick and Klein are today’s Kappos. They were the Jews in the concentration camps used to
keep the inmates in line.

Obama is directly endangering our troops by deluding/lying… and claiming Israel defending itself, against terrorist dictators that parade as religious, endangers American troops; exactly the opposite is true! …

Obama’s insistence that the tyrants, parading as religious, in Iran be kept in power at all cost, is precisely the show of weakness that emboldens Taleban/Al Qaeda ( both of which are the brainchild, creation, and dependant of middle east intelligence agencies in a: good cop bad cop scam…) to attack our troops;

And now the Obama stunning show of treachery against Israel, is emboldening the terrorist, that Obama demands be granted statehood on the West Bank/Gaza, to step up terror attacks against Israel…

Harold Hill Obama: Islime is the problem.

Do we have troops fighting Islime in Afghan, Iraq, Yemen…

Are any of the enemy we have our army fighting: Hindu? No…
Christian? No…
Jew? No…
Secular? No…

Yes! For the USA army, every enemy on every battlefield has one thing and only one thing in common: Islime!

He believed in Oslo. We all told you so, but no you do not listen, Ross or even learn from your past stupidity!

He thinks Israel can make peace with modern day Hitlers; who openly tell you they view any agreement as a “piece plan”; take over Israel one piece at a time or all at once; either way…but Dennis Ross, no he does not listen…only if we talk and make nice we can have understanding: (with Hitlers) ninny!

This just lies to your face, they think that little of you!

If your IQ is under 102 you like Obama!

If you have a mental disorder, you like Obama!

If you have any objective view of the actual market conditions and you desire a freedom of speech and a western “market oriented economy”, Obama is a nightmare!

What is happening is a long over do earthquake: The relationship between Israel and the US is changing and will never be restored to the status quo ante. Having alienated a large segment of European opinion by the invasion of Lebanon, Gaza, treatment of the Palestinians, etc., Israel is accomplishing the same thing in the US, their only remaining ally. The US has finally awakened to the fact, as Gen Petraeus pointed out, that we cannot accomplish what we want to in the Muslim world and give Israel free reign. Israel’s bad behavior, their deviation from western accepted civilized norms of conduct, cannot continue without the support of the American Diaspora and we will soon see which nation they put first. Not everyone is Dennis Ross or Eliot Abrams. Even non Likudnik members of Bibi’s cabinet are worried and thinking of resigning. In Bibi the Israelis have finally found a man who can actually put the state in danger.

Obama’s “smart diplomacy” is an obvious failure. He cannot get our enemies or adversaries to budge, he cannot get the Palestinian Arabs to negotiate seriously (proximity talks: the Arabs will not sit in the same room with Jews for fear of getting cooties; that’s a real success for “smart diplomacy”, that is). So Obama picks on a small American ally, like the bully he is. This tantrum is not a sign of Obama’s strength, it is a sign of weakness, and the rest of the world will read it like that.

Let us consdier the point of US interests for a moment. Are they forwarded by bullying Israel? I don not think so. Arab states will reflect that America is abandoning Israel, a country with which we have much more in common than we do with them. At the same time we are appeasing Iran, a state they fear and which is soon going to be a nuclear power. Abandoning Israel will not make us any friends in the Middle East. It will bring us only comtempt and shame for doing down a friend and ally. Other states in the region will see this as the signal to accomodate Iran. Iran will sneer at us for our cowardice and point out American unreliability to the other states in the region. They will decide it is time to make a kowtow to Iran. Meet the new boss, much diferent and more demanding than the old. We’ll see a diminution of US influence and a rush to appease Iran.

It would not surprise me a bit to find that such ideas are already at work in the foriegn ministries of the Middle East, and elsewhere too.

This will also encourage more war against Israel, which I do not think is in America’s interest either. Obama’s opinion seems to differ from mine on that matter.

“…he doesn’t seem to understand that this has become bigger than Jerusalem but is rather about the credibility of this Administration.” So, in other words, like everything else, this is really about Obama. Of course.

Obama has gotten more out of this ploy than you might expect. Now he has the dogs fighting each other and slip in the real ringer. He is relaxing Iranian sanctions. No other country called for sanctions as much as this country has and now he is relaxing them. He is also withholding the necessary weaponry Israel needs to attack Iran. In effect he is creating a nuclear Iran.

Even those who want Israel to withdraw from the west bank [they are the majority in Israel] see Obama’s policies as very dangerous to the process. He is perceived as so inexperienced that it is embarrassing. The “leader of the free world’ is not a leader, and does not stand for freedom.

To a large extent, this is what happened (and is still happening to a lesser degree) within Israel – as Leftists policies failed over & over, as the sheer stupidity of their arguments & policies were destroyed by REALITY (Leftists hate facts, reality, evidence), as they lost support & even worse for power-hungry ideologues, political power, they became practically hysterical, angry, engaged in wild accusations, character assassination, outright lies & slanders. Many retreated into even more radical positions. Most continued to repeat the same old mantras, the same BS slogans.
Saner people abandoned the Left, they are now a very marginalized collection of true-believers, much like members of some crank religious cult, more the object of ridicule than anything else.
Many left Israel for the US & Europe where they found a new & more naive market for their crap product, to spread their anti-Israel poison.
In Israel, we had to suffer the plague of Leftism for many years. Everything wrong with our country can be traced back to the Leftist policies of the socialists that dominated politics since Independence in 1948.
You Americans are to be congratulated for becoming aware so quickly to the dangers of Leftism, to their scams & hateful strategies & lies.

By the way, the Obama administration’s bullying tactics with Israel & their total failure in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program have increased the liklihood of an Israeli military strike on Iran & the possibility of a wider regional war. Read an article at DebkaFile today.

Anti-intellectualism is an intrinsic part of leftism. It truly can be compared to a belief in tarot cards and crystal ball gazing. The fact that a high number of leftists possess advance degrees behind their name doesn’t change a thing. These postmodernists have psychologically and existentially declared war on empirical evidence. Their wickedness greatly hinders their ability to think and follow a logical argument. A leftist has opted to embrace evil—and must minimally be marginalized. We cannot continue to allow such wicked people to cause so much damage.

#16 David Thomson. Very much like their Islamic friends, one of the favorite tactics of the Left is to re-write history. Intellectual dishonesty is the foundation of totalitarian movements. You might say that their motto is, ”Don’t confuse me with facts.”
If reality contradicts their beliefs, then reality must be wrong.
Sane, rational people essentially go where the evidence leads them, this is not true of ideologues, of true-believers & Utopian Totalitarians. Since a major component of this mental condition is some form of hero-worship, the ”cult of personality” that is so prominant a feature of totalitarian regimes, there is no limit to the twisting & turning, the intellectual gymnastics, that the true believer will engage in to ”protect” his savior.

What I find most telling is that the principle argument in favor of the break with Israel is that it is all about “President Obama’s credibility”.

Glenn Reynolds and others have been trying to piece together a rational reason for why he’s been alienating allies (Britain, Honduras, the Czech Republic, Poland, Georgia and of course Israel). There is none. It’s all about “me”. Mememememe. This is Obama acting out and feeling tough, but I think that at the end of the day he hasn’t really given any real thought to any of this.

“As he writes, Likud and its supporters ‘overlook younger, more liberal constituencies, which for years have been more questioning of Israel policy.’”

The only good argument I’ve heard from Jews for their eschewing conservatism, and the Republican Party, is that they are so dedicated to taking care of the poor and downtrodden, with which I agree. And, I’m sure that they’ve heard that the best social program is a real job; by real, I mean not being on the government’s payroll. Still, so many Jews are liberal, and only work to undermine capitalist society here, as well as doing the same when it comes to supporting Israel against its enemies.

Not to single out liberal Jews, but only to point up what liberalism, itself, is, I can only quote what one very famous Jew, Michael Savage – who himself is now a conservative, but at what one time was a liberal. He said: “Liberalism is mental disorder.” For the life of me, I cannot come up with any other explanation.

Sorry, I did not properly edit my remarks before posting. My third paragraph should read:

Not to single out liberal Jews, but only to point up what liberalism, itself, is, I can only quote what one very famous Jew, Michael Savage – who himself is now a conservative, but at what one time was a liberal – has said: “Liberalism is mental disorder.” For the life of me, I cannot come up with any other explanation.

Hatred of Jews is the glue that holds the coalition of Islamists, Marxists, Anarchists and Utopian New Agers together. Why did people not believe Obama when he said “we are the ones we have been waiting for” in his Berlin speech. When is the American Jewish community going to wake up?

When they become enlightened to the fact that either President George W Bush or Gov Sarah Palin are NOT the ‘Hitlers’ that many in the American Jewish community have been indoctrinated to believe.

And as Melanie Philips recently explained regarding the worldwide frenzied attention only on Israel-Palestine problem, Americans in the Jewish community will really wake up when they realize that Jihad Pogrom is currently happening to Christians in Africa.

Once Jews realize African Christians are the ‘canary in the coal mine’ then perhaps they end their blind support of the Democrat Slave Plantation.

What is it about that ISLIME you mentioned terribly in all your comments everywhere incite terror, extreme fatal that recuperates within yourself hatred and enmity. Be cool. Take a deep breath and cherish the air you inhale with peace.

Several points here:
(1) Jews are often accused of dual loyalties but for an over whelming percentage of the community there is only one loyalty – to Socialism. Few Jews quit the Communist party after Stalin signed the non-aggression pact with Hitler and started World War II and enabling the Holocaust. Most of those who quit returned to the fold in June of 1941. Like all Progressives, Jews supported the War effort, because of Stalin, not out of a love for Freedom, loyalty to the US or concern for their co-religionists in Europe. Had the Soviet Union agreed to a separate peace with the Nazis these Jews would have reverted to an anti-war position and would have done their best to undermine the war effort. To this day if you ask a Jew like Remnick or Klein about the non-aggression pact they would still make excuses for Stalin. The Jewish community began to walk away from Israel when Menachem Begin and Likhud assumed power in the late 1970’s. Until then Jews viewed Israel as part of the Socialist community. When they elected a staunch anti-Communist they viewed Israel as apostate.

(2) The push against Israel is the product of an Arab disinformation campaign designed to move the United States into the Muslim supporting camp. Most Muslim governments don’t wish to see Israel disappear from the Middle East but sounding anti-Israel helps them in getting their populations focused on Israel helps them stay in power. Beyond words most of the Arab world, be it government or the people, place Israel well down the list of real concern. When you want to know what someone really things look at what they do, not what they say. And what do Arab governments do when it comes to Palestinians? In September 1970 Jordan conducted an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Palestinians that rivals Kosovo but they killed far more of the beloved Palestinians then the Serbs killed Albanians. In the wake of the liberation, Iraqis ethnically cleansed the country of Palestinians. In 2007 the Lebanese government destroyed the Nahr el Bared refugee camp leaving 50,000 people homeless and causing hundreds of civilian casualties with nary a whisper of protest in the region. The Palestinians are hated by every Arab nation that comes in contact with them.

(3) We have a tendency to focus on Israel and anti-Semitism then the larger pattern of the Obama administration. Obama is certainly an anti-Semite but he is also anti-freedom. It is clear that he wants to align the United States with Third World Socialist dictators like Chavez and Mugabe. The fact that he still sees Russia and China as part of this grand Socialist alliance is testimony to his ignorance. Obama has turned on the Brits, Poland, Honduras the Czech Republic, Colombia., India as well as Israel during his first year in office. At same the time he is seeking “normalization” with every third world tyrannical regime he can find. I think this stems from his in ability to come to terms with his abandonment by father. Every Mugabe or Khameni is the embodiment of the father he never had. When you couple this with his Socialist fetish there is no wonder that anti-Semitism drives his Middle East vision.

Hey, it sure is a nice break from reality to come in here. No mention of the balance the US needs to keep in the coalition of the Willing with regards to logistics and cooperation with muslim countries. No mention about the battle for the hearts and minds of postwar Iraq. No pride in your own country, rather you would have Nethanyahu piss all over your wartime president. I say, move over there yourself if you think that you know better than Gates and Petraeus what is US interests in the area.

“The only good argument I’ve heard from Jews for their eschewing conservatism, and the Republican Party, is that they are so dedicated to taking care of the poor and downtrodden, with which I agree.”

The graduates of our elite universities receive a mediocre education in the softer disciplines. This has been occurring since no later than 1975. They have next to zilch understanding of the causes of poverty and how best to help the economically challenged to improve their situation in life. How many of these individuals have ever read the works of Edward Banfield, Michael Novak, Heather MacDonald, or even Oscar Lewis. These pseudo-educated people are only taught the doctrines of wealth redistribution. We cannot even begin to correct the problems of our present era until the truth is widely known regarding the Ivy League schools: they are intellectual whorehouses! Their graduates in the “Humanities” courses are normally not worthy of respect.

Compared to Israel, the Arab world has 25 times as many countries, 1000 times the landmass and 50 times as many people. But Israel is the pea under 1.1 billion mattresses that keeps not just Arabs but the entire Muslim world awake at night.

Caroline Glick’s March 28, 2010 column mentions the fact that many in Israel believe that the whole dramatic “Incident” — including the “announcement” and “condemnation” of the approval of housing units during Biden’s visit — was a deliberately planned “set up”

of Netanyahu in an effort to overthrow Netanyahu’s government — planned by a coalition of Obama supporters and Kadima.

“In light of the deep and widespread support Israel [Netanyahu?] enjoys among Israelis, Obama has cobbled together a similar coalition against the Netanyahu government specifically and against a strong Israel generally.

“His [Obama's] coalition for weakening the US alliance with Israel is comprised of
Leftist Israelis – and particularly the Kadima Party and the Israeli media on the one hand —

and leftist pro-Palestinian American Jewish groups on the other hand.

Together, these Israeli and American Jewish groups provide political cover for Obama’s onslaught against Israel …
***

“As the Netanyahu government sought to understand how a routine meeting of the board [planning board ... its meetings never attract much attention] became an international story,

many officials alleged that Kadima had colluded with the Obama administration to exploit the board’s decision to provoke a crisis in US-Israel relations.

Kadima’s purpose in this, it was argued, was to lower the public’s support for Netanyahu.

“These allegations have been supported by the fact that a week before Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to Israel, Livni confidante and Kadima MK Yoel Hasson told Israeli Radio,

“In the coming weeks we will see how messed up Netanyahu’s relations with the Europeans and Americans are.”

He also pointed out that Livni’s key political advisor Eyal Arad is also an advisor to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

“Whether or not Kadima colluded with the Obama administration to cook up the crisis over building in Jerusalem, Livni and her cohorts were quick to loudly condemn Netanyahu for the decision – about which he was uninformed and regarding which he has no legal authority to intervene.”

The claim that Jews vote democratic because they associate with the downtrodden is exaggerated. Rather it is a well-rehearsed response of seeking to ingratiate themselves with those who they view as influential in their society. As the heat gets turned up on Israel, the Jewish community will respond in two ways. Some will speak in defense of Israel, others will chastise Israel more harshly to prove they are on board with their perceived protectors. It will do them no good, but they are thinking only of themselves and cannot comprehend the all inclusive hatred towards Jews. They have learned nothing from the Holocaust.

Taki argued a few years ago in the pages of the American Conservative that American Jews are a “fifth column,” and elsewhere that the Jewish neo-cons (he actually lists thirteen of them by name) are “as shameless and contemptible as most traitors are.”

I followed your link to the latter article.

HE WROTE:

“Another group of honorable folks are the eminent physicists who recently urged the Congress to pass binding legislation to restrict the authority of the U.S. president to order nuclear strikes against non-nuclear-weapon states.

“Reading over the names, it seems to me that at least half of these peace-loving researchers are Jewish.”

As I said above, which I amsure you did not read, the Iraqi people cleansed themselves of the Palestinian plague right after the Saddam was removed from power. The Iraqi people hate the Palestinians with a passion.

As a gentile american, I will again express my lack of enthusiasm for this debate where the dual loyalty for jewish folks is expressed as a conflict between liberalism and Israel with the better interests of the United States not being part of the equation.

“Michael Savage – who himself is now a conservative, but at what one time was a liberal – has said: “Liberalism is mental disorder.”” I would add, after an encounter with my (Jewish) staunchly Obama-supporting nephew this past weekend, “Debating with a liberal is like arguing with a cultist.”

Barack Obama received an outrageously mediocre Ivy League education. We must make sure that our fellow Americans realize that a soft science credential from Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, or other such schools—are usually not worthy of respect. Harvey Mansfield candidly admitted that he felt compelled to provide his students with inflated grades. Fraud is a ho-hum fact of life. This is especially true regarding those softer degrees awarded in the last thirty-five years.

At this point, it is becoming very hard not to equate anti-Israel with anti-Semitism. All of these prognosticators on the Middle East that make up the Democratic Party have gone out of their way to criticize Israel, but yet have not made any demands on the Palestinians. I’m pretty sure that if Israel got up and left the entire Middle East the Left would still find some way to blame Israel for all of the problems in the Middle East, which predated it and will succeed it (I hope the latter does not come true, but hope can’t defend a nation).

Please note that I am not ridiculing the hard science degrees of the Ivy League schools. Those credentials are almost certainly earned. The fraud resulting from the affirmative action programs enacted in the 1960s is usually limited to the softer disciplines. This ugly secret must be revealed to the majority of gullible Americans who are unaware of the scam jobbing that regularly occurs in these “elite” universities. Harvard’s unearned reputation for greatness, for instance, is greatly responsible for the election of the ill educated Barack Obama.

Do yourself a favor. Speak to anyone who graduated from an Ivy League institution in the last few decades regarding American history. The odds are very high that this individual will be clueless. They only know about the United States past racism. Just about everything else was left out.

With respect to all, I don’t think ad hominem attacks either on Obama or on liberals including liberal American Jews serves to illuminate the real problems we’re confronting.

Speaking as a very liberal American Jew who voted for Obama, I do not see myself as a threat to America because I think we should have health care and work to protect the environment.

I also don’t see myself as a traitor to America because I’ve worried that the current hard line on Israel, particulary regarding Jerusalem, is probably going to be counterproductive and may even result in further violence. Of course doing nothing will also probably result in further violence. I myself don’t think the current situation is either moral or sustainable.

That said – will withdrawal from more territory bring peace? Will creating a Palestinian state bring peace? History says this isn’t very likely UNLESS there is true reconciliation between people and an understanding of each others’ history. I don’t see this mutual understanding being promoted or nurtured.

And meanwhile, has anybody honestly looked at the morality of contributing to the creation of a state where it’s unlikely Jews would be welcome, or of asking Israel to “ethnically cleanse” the West Bank of Jews?

Does anybody see real creativity being applied to the equation, for example in regard to land donations from Arab states to help the Palestinians or even to offer them citizenship rather than maintaining “refugee camps” 60 plus years after the 1948 war?

I think the current situation isn’t right but jawboning the Israelis and not asking for help from the Arab world AND THE UN isn’t going to help matters, and this requires a) recognition of Israel b) resolution of Arab ROR to Israel c) clarification as to the status of Jewish residents of Arab states including a future Palestinian state d) ending the Arab League boycott of Israel e) getting the UN to face itself and its role in the Arab/Israeli conflict and f) discussing the situation of other minorities and their status throughout the Middle East, because all these issues are related.

Ganging up on Israel and trying to employ “proximity talks” as if we were imperial Britain rather than getting people face to face, as equals, also plays into the image of America as a world class bully. This won’t make us more popular either, even though everybody hates Israel these days.

Wierdest of all, America’s wars of choice in the Middle East, furtherance of our economic interests there for example the oil industry, and the subsequent fallout thereto are now being blamed on Israel. Yet – how much of Iran’s search for nuclear power might be out of fear? Not of Israel obviously – but of winding up like Afghanistan or Iraq. Note I’m not defending the Iranian regime – not at all – but I think fear of being invaded or destabilized, by any great power, might be a key driver of their policy.

Anyway, it is sinister that people who for whatever reason disagree with the Administration can now be openly called “traitors” in the MSM.

Since when has dissent been “treason?” Democracies thrive on dissent. Without dissent we have totalitarian states.

I’m leaving aside the obvious danger of state-sanctioned antisemitism. But that’s not far from what’s already being implied.

So – consider this. It’s important not to blindly alienate people because we are Democrats or even leftists. We have a right to think differently than you do, as Conservatives or right wing Americans – and further it’s dissent and balance between dissenting voices that make for thriving democracies.

By the same token, just because we voted for Obama and continue to support Democratic ideas about health care, because we see a need for conservation and aggressive creativity in the green sector doesn’t mean we agree with the administration about everything.

We shouldn’t be called traitors either for being Democrats OR for being upset about this hardline policy toward Israel.

Americans have both the right and the duty to speak out when we’re uncomfortable about something the government is doing.

I don’t for example think I was a traitor back in the day because I was unhappy about the war in Vietnam. I was not in favor of the Iraq war and I am not in favor of bullying Israel without seeking confidence-building steps from the Arabs, and also I am not in favor of ignoring Jewish history in Jerusalem and also the West Bank, and I think there’s an astonishing lack of honesty about the whole situation there including the problem of Arab ROR and the non-acknowledgement of Jews from the Arab world who almost all fled their homes after 1945.

In other words there’s no balancing of the rhetoric at all, many MSM bloggers (in particular) don’t seem very well educated yet they blather on regardless and this all represents a historically and morally dishonest stance that is surprising during the term of an Administration which seems to be intellectually acute.

Lost in the shuffle is the obvious fact that Muslims, Christians and Arabs are not “minorities.” Jews are. On a global scale Jews are a tiny and shrinking minority and are under threat. This obviously includes the state of Israel as well as the Diaspora, which continues to be vilified around the world – even here. It’s just not as open here YET – but in Britain? The M.E. – even places like Malaysia? Forgetaboutit.

Worst of all, MSM bloggers and columnists who flirt with these canards about “interests” and “treachery” are beyond disappointing, they are guilty in my opinion of inciting not only violence against Israel and within the Middle East as a whole but they are also starting to sound like 1930′s Germans.

And increasingly people are just making stuff up, for example the “fact” that the Green Line is a border – published in the NYT recently.

Now THIS should concern all Americans, left, right and center. Agitprop and facts are two different things and we should demand the latter of our journalists, even bloggers, even editorialists.

Its either american interest with the Arab and Muslim world or Eastern European Jewry settlers interest. cant get clearer. For years and years the American and Arab mutual interests where replaced by settlers interest. The building of new houses in occupied east Jerusalem is but a reminder of how Israel is benefiting on the expense of American credibility and image in the arab and muslim world.
Therefore, American interest shouldn’t be just second to Israel interest.

Lets hope that Americans will forgive Bibi for damaging their credibility in the rest of the world.

Sophia, you made a good point about the dangers to those in the Diaspora and don’t be fooled, those dangers are coming to the Diaspora in the US as well. Being good liberals and working for the interests of the Democratic Party will not help any more than the loyalty of German Jewish WWI veterans helped once crunch time came in the 1930′s.

I also acknowledge your statement about the fate of the Jewish communities that existed in Muslim lands for centuries. Iraq was a good case in point. The Iraqi Jewish community was one of the most ancient and they were basically forced out after 1948.

I fear you are mislead about Iran though. The current leadership has maintained, publicly and for a long time, that their goal is to cause a world war and create chaos in order to hasten the coming of the “Mahdi”. I know it is hard for secular people to realize this, but I for one believe they are serious in their intentions.

“As for the recent housing crisis, Remnick sees Biden and Obama as the ones who were humiliated by the Israelis, which he attributes to “a deep Israeli misreading of the President and an ignorance of the diversity of opinion among American Jews and in the United States in general.””

Which shows complete ignorance of the facts on the ground in Jerusalem and a total ignorance of what the “Judenrein” implication means only some 60 years after it was implemented in Europe.
That the US President, a man of colour whose wife was so vociferous on the discrimination she suffered, can be so insensitive to the discrimination of others should make one understand the Israeli’s disdain for his policies.

Holo, get your facts straight. Jews are not “settlers” in eastern Jerusalem, they are not “occupiers” or “colonialists”.

Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and has been Jewish for 3500 years. Jordan’s illegal occupation of the eastern part of the city and its expulsion of Jews and destruction of synagogues is the only reason it became an arab majority. For the world community to not recognize Israel’s annexation in 1967 means that it has retroactively given its support for Jordan’s illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing of Jews in 1948. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the koran, it was never the capital of any arab or muslims state. There was never a sovereign nation state called Palestine.

Jerusalem doesn’t belong to the arab-muslim people referred to as “palestinians” any more than Spain belongs to the muslims because they once conquered it and which they consider islamic territory (al andalus).

#4 Michigantruth, do not be surprised. Our Chazal (he Sages of Blessed Memory) tell us that at the time of the Exodus, 80% of our brethern so identified with their Egyptian oppressors that they either chose not to go out, or were found unworthy to go out.